A playful and provocative look at female sexuality is the focus of a Sotheby’s selling exhibition. ‘A Woman’s Right to Pleasure’, created in collaboration with BlackBook and inspired by the tome of the same name, traces female experience over the last century in a reframing of traditional narratives.

A Woman’s Right To Pleasure (published in 2020 by BlackBook) anthologised some of the world’s most potent artworks by women explicating, reclaiming, and asserting their sexualities. Nan Goldin, Jenny Holzer, Carrie Mae Weems, Carolee Schneemann, Vaginal Davis and Kathy Acker are among the 77 featured artists and writers all exploring this “unruly” realm and, as Jong says in the foreword, the notion of “pleasure as a metaphor for so much more”... an expression of subjectivity, a declaration of power.

Mystical, delicate, ethereal; bold, brash, satisfied; abstract, symbolic, organic; seductive, whimsical, dangerous; empowering, funny, unsettling; intergenerational, inclusive, intimate; erotic, personal and political — featuring work by pioneering women artists from art history and today, A Woman’s Right To Pleasure offers a radical perspective on what it’s like to be female.

(Translated from the original): There are words in the Newtonian vocabulary that can still cause embarrassment. Bondage and sadomasochism, for example. But just talking about ropes with someone who enjoys being tied up is enough to understand that (almost) everything you think about bondage is wrong. And it's far from being confined to the narrow and unspeakable space of a closet.

A revolutionary, ironic, and provocative exhibition: A Woman’s Right to Pleasure is the show exploring female pleasure, launched by Sotheby’s in collaboration with BlackBook Presents. The two partnered to create an exhibition that opens up a dialogue around female sexuality; a series of paintings, photographs, neon texts, and design objects take center stage in an artistic event that examines how the theme has evolved over the past century. Works by young pioneers alongside masterpieces by established contemporary women artists define the rich and intriguing collection on view within Sotheby’s exhibition space in Los Angeles through August 12, 2022.

Sotheby’s is pleased to announce a groundbreaking exhibition in collaboration with BlackBook Presents. Following BlackBook’s acclaimed book A Woman’s Right To Pleasure, the exhibition presents an unapologetic view of the female experience and pleasure through the bold and imaginative women who contribute to these groundbreaking dialogues through their work. Featuring work by pioneering women artists, alongside the contemporary female names that continue to expand upon these necessary conversations, A Woman’s Right To Pleasure offers a radical take on the female experience as it has evolved over the last hundred years.

A Woman’s Right to Pleasure—a new coffee table book published by BlackBook Publishing and intimate lifestyle brand LELO, to coincide with an online exhibition and auction of the same name—is a valiant attempt to wrangle diverse viewpoints and artworks into a single tome. Contributions range from Alice Neel’s paintings of pregnant women, to photographs by Dani Lessnau that were shot by placing a camera inside her vagina, to a coloring book by the fetish illustrator known on Instagram as @ripbambi. Contributing writers include cultural critic Natasha Stagg, women’s health activist Naana Otoo-Oyortey, and pornography director, performer, and Slate columnist Stoya.

A Woman’s Right to Pleasure is a new compendium celebrating female erotic art. We meet its contributors, including the photographer who turned her vagina into a camera.